A Scary Night

Like most of the country, a massive cold front came through our area. We had High Wind and Severe Thunderstorm Watches in effect last night.

Since the girls aren't crazy about storms, I warned them that there was only one line of storms, moving fast, that was going to come through. It would storm for a little bit and be done. No worries, get some sleep.

I was working on my laptop sometime after 9 when the storm blew in. The lights flickered, and I figured I'd unplug my laptop so it wouldn't get fried. I knew the battery power in it would go for about 2 hours - long after the storms would be gone. That way I could still monitor the storm on the radar.

Suddenly I got this eerie feeling. Then there was this noise. Louder than the fighter jets that fly over during training exercises. Not quite like a train. It was like everything moved into slow motion. I thought about a tornado - it couldn't be a tornado - but it feels weird like maybe a tornado would. The noise got louder, the house shuddered and our sliding back door shook. Then all was quiet.

Now I'm feeling REALLY weird and wondering what just happened. I went to the front window to see what I could see. Ok, I know it was 9-something at night, but I still wanted to check it out. Stuff is blowing like crazy. As I walk back to the computer I look up to see the girls flying down the hall.

A especially was freaking out. C said that there was a loud noise and the recycle bin must have gone flying. I turned on the outside lights and went out front. Not the smartest idea I guess but I wasn't thinking too clearly. I was worried maybe something bad had happened. By our garbage cans is a pile of gutter-stuff and a garbage can lid I've never seen before. So figured the gutter had come down in the wind. The funny thing was our recycling stuff (heavy cardboard boxes that were soaked because of the rain) were all still in place. My guess is that the random garbage can lid was flying around and took out the gutter and pieces.

Not wanting all the stuff to go flying, I opened the garage door and put the recycling inside. I asked C to bring me a flashlight. Then I checked around the house. Everything was ok except for the corner by the girls' bedroom. There you could see where the gutter-stuff had come off and the wood was exposed.

It wasn't until this morning when I went outside that I saw just how ugly it looked. It's a small area, and mostly decorative, but it's not pretty. Our next door neighbor on the one side had their basketball hoop blown down. On the other side the neighbor's flagpole is blown over.

A couldn't sleep last night - she ended up in bed with me. So not much sleep was had at our house last night - at least by A and I. :-)

I will say that was the closest I've been to a tornado and it's something I don't want to experience again! Having worked at the Red Cross, I've seen the results of floods and tornadoes, but this was the first time I've experienced something close to that. God willing it will be the last.